WORDS MATTER

Dictionary considers new 'marriage' definition

'Gay' report says Oxford watching 'shifting' usage

Published: 07/27/2013 at 6:33 PM

Text smaller

Text bigger

A publication that focuses on “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender” issues says officials with Oxford Dictionary have confirmed they are watching the usage of the word “marriage,” in view of a possible redefinition.

President Obama in the United States has accomplished much toward the goal set by homosexuals of having the alternative lifestyle choice of same-sex “marriage” mainstreamed, with his advocacy for homosexuality in the military and his successful attack on the federal Defense of Marriage Law.

Now lawmakers in Oxford’s home, the United Kingdom, have adopted a law to push same-sex “marriage” forward into society.

A report Wednesday in the “GayStarNews” said an Oxford University Press official said, “we continually monitor the words in our dictionaries, paying particular (sic) to those words whose usage is shifting, so yes, this will happen with marriage.”

Fox 40 reported that should Oxford take a cue from Canada, “gender would be removed from the marriage definition altogether.”

The report said, “The Canada Space Dictionary says marriage is the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life ‘(or until divorce)’”

Some already have moved that direction, but it’s a long way from unanimous.

Google’s definition defines marriage as: “The formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife … a relationship between married people or the period for which it lasts.”

Wikipedia calls it a “social union or legal contract between people called spouses that establishes rights and obligations.”

It does note that “most sovereign states and other jurisdictions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples…”

Oxford, now, aligns with Google and calls it, “The formal union of a man and a woman, typically recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife.”

Merriam-Webster states it is “the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.”

Or, it is “the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage.”

The Free Dictionary calls it “Having a spouse united in matrimony, of or relating to the state of marriage, acquired through marriage, closely connected, united.”

“By correcting the definition, we could affect legal arguments. We could affect naysayers’ perception. We could raise awareness in a positive way and reinvigorate the energy of those who’d like to see a different, better world. And we can finally call ‘gay marriage’ what it should be called: Marriage.”